31st January to 2nd February

First trip of the year and our second trip in the new van and it almost ended before it started as we forgot to unhook the electric cable before driving off! What a disaster!!

Thankfully I noticed the cable in my side mirror as I was pulling out the driveway and was able to stop immediately whilst Kevin jumped out to unhook the cable and inspect the damage. I pulled over to the side of the road and waited for quite a while and was starting to fear the worst but whilst the cable tidy reel had been shredded as it was pulled out through the garage door and the garage door had been forced of it’s track there was no damage to the van … phew!

We were able to secure the garage door and still head off on our first adventure of the year, albeit a little later and more stressed than expected.

And the adventure continued when we got to the petrol station to fill up with diesel and realised we had no idea how to unlock the filler cap as the new van has keyless entry and start - eventually I realised there was a ‘spare’ key that could be detached from the key fob and this was what was needed and, although it was quite awkward to use, we were able to fill up and get going.

So, finally on the way, and the trip was already feeling like it could be cursed!

Thankfully the rest of the journey was uneventful and we arrived safely and were able to park up on our pitch without any further drama.

This was the first weekend that Silverburn Park was open and the work to convert the old mill building was still ongoing so, due to the works going on and the recent bad weather, the ground was very churned up and muddy around the pitches and the wider site.

It was dark & cold so we just hunkered down for the night. We filled up on pasta with our favourite Rana pasta sauce and some garlic dough balls that we cooked in the air fryer (180c for six minutes, giving them a shake every couple of minutes, and they turned out great) and enjoyed sitting in the front area of the van to watch some TV before heading to bed quite early as we had both had a tiring work week … I did need to get up at one-point though and ask the couple next to us sitting outside their roof-top tent to turn down their music which had been blaring all evening despite a no music outside rule at the campsite, oh well not everyone is a responsible camper.

It was a bit chilly overnight, we had a 7.5tog quilt on with the heating set to 5C (to prevent it getting so cold it dumped out the water), but that wasn’t warm enough for sleeping, so Kevin braved the cold and put the heating back on.

We woke up just before sunrise and watched the sun come up out the back of the van.

For breakfast, we tried baking frozen almond croissants in the air-fryer, 160c for around 15m seemed to work well and gave us a tasty treat to start our day.

Kevin had bought me a “CouchBar” as a Xmas present, it holds two mugs and has an area for food/snacks, and he had it customised to be able to hold two of our Stanley mugs…and it works great, it provides a nice stable platform for a mug of tea in bed.

Once breakfast had been enjoyed, I headed over to the toilet block with the intention of using one of the shower rooms but only one seemed to be open and the floor was absolutely filthy so I decided to give it a miss and just had a quick freshen up & tied my hair back.

We set off along the Fife Coastal Path in the direction of Leven and despite it being cold, the sun was out and it was a beautiful bright blue day with only a light breeze - ideal walking conditions and a real feel of Spring trying to break through. Kevin got out the ’big’ camera to snap some shots and we realised that he had forgotten to put a battery into it after charging but we decided we were too far along the path already to go back so Kevin had to cart a 55-250mm EOS lens, a 10-18mm lens and the camera body around all day and we resigned ourselves to not having any photography practice on this walk which was a real shame as the light was beautiful.

We made our way down onto the beach at Largo Bay, just past Scoonie Golf club, and discovered a huge expanse of beach to walk along - one of our favourite things to do! As we sauntered along the beach, we marvelled at the folds in the sand and the tidal eddies that were forming around the stones that were scattered along the beach, fascinating and beautiful in equal measures.

The beach wasn’t particularly busy, and we wandered along as far as Levenmouth and then followed the Fife Coastal path in-land and spotted a heritage trail QR code on a lamppost and, thinking that would be a good way to pass some time, tried to scan the code but it didn’t work and we didn’t see any further markers on our way but its something that we could pick up again next time we’re back in this area.

The walk took us through Leven, Methil and onto Buckhaven. These are definitely not the most picturesque parts of the Fife Coastal path, mostly through small towns and away from the beach.

When we arrived in Buckhaven, we were starting to get hungry and there was quite a gap to the next town Kirkcaldy (there was a small place, East Wemyss, in between but from a quick look at the map there didn’t seem to be any food places) so we decided to turn around and start to walk back with the hope of finding somewhere to eat. Kevin spotted a place called “Buns n’ Shakes” in Methil, which looked right up our alley, so we popped in and had a very tasty and filling lunch, accompanied by excellent milk shakes.

I had a smash burger (without tomato, of course), parmesan fries, and a PB galore milkshake and Kevin had a Philly cheese steak, cajun fries and a Kinder joy milkshake.

We got back to the van around 4pm, cleaned off our boots and relaxed for a bit.

First distance walk of the year, around 8.5miles, not too bad.

We had some snacks, and sat back and watched Chain Reaction, an old (1996) film with Keanu Reeves, Morgan Freeman and Rachel Weiss, it was “fine” as far as films go.

When it was time for bed, Kevin left the heating on at 10c and set the timer to bring it up to 19c starting at 6:30am, which worked well and we woke to a comfortable warm van.

The sunrise was amazing on the Sunday morning, starting as a bright red line over the East Lothian coast, hard to capture, but it was stunning.

A light breakfast of our van favourite of yoghurt and granola and we were ready to start packing up for the trip home. I popped over to the wee cafe and picked up two fruit scones and two cheese scones to take home for later. We had bought some last time we were here and I remember them being really good and when we ate these later I can confirm that lived up to the memory, especially the cheese scones.

It was a dark grey morning, with intermittent light rain, on the journey home over the Queensferry Crossing and we were back home for not long after 12pm.

A fantastic visit back to Silverburn Park and definitely one we will go to again for its access to the Fife Coastal Path.